


Dancing in Fairy Rings

by NekSnek



Series: Alvarez's Little Star [2]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: A lot of background ships both crack and not, AU, Almost Manga Compliant, Alvarez-fostered Lucy, BAMF!Lucy, I Messed with Canon, I hope, I’ll make this fun I promise, LUCY HAS QUESTIONABLE ACTIONS, Larcade/Lucy crackship because I can, Long and Winded Story Telling, Lucy can Take Ass and Kick Names, Lucy has another magic aside Celestial Spirits, Lucy has some questionable… thoughts, Lucy isn’t Playing, Lucy-centric POV, Magic theories, Multi, No Anime-Filler Episodes, No regerts, Not A Fix-It, Not a Copy-Paste of Canon, Only Half of the Cast are Straight, Probably Would End in Tears, Probably ooc, Protective Celestial Spirits, Starts off Badass, Still no Regerts, Took Too Much Creative Liberty, Unreliable Narrator, Unreliable updates, VERY VERY Loosely Follows Timeline, eh? eh?, headcanons ahoy, or shall I say E.N.D. in tears, please support, slooooooow burn, this is actually pretty indulgent, this is going to be a looooooong ass fic, world-building
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-10-01 07:57:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17240456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NekSnek/pseuds/NekSnek
Summary: The Spriggan hides her horns and pretends to be a Fairy. It's most definitely going to be a mess, but Lucy will do as she pleases.(Extended version of NoF,BaS, AU of manga)





	1. the new mage

**Author's Note:**

> Extended version of Not a Fairy, But a Spriggan, specifically during Lucy's stay in Fairy Tail.

For a bunch of no good Dark Mages, they provided ample information in regards to Fairy Tail.

In Magnolia Town, the Kingdom of Fiore. A massive wooden building with a large board proudly declaring its name, along with the images of tailed fairies hopping about. Noise from within the building can be clearly heard, despite standing ten metres away from it, and if one would listen harder, they would also hear the sounds of tables being smash, glass shattering, and other sounds of the inside being broken by whoever is causing the semi-permanent brawl in the rambunctious guild.

The corner of Lucy's lips kicks up in amusement, not doubting that her soon-to-be new guild would be…  _Lively_. "Heh," Lucy moves her feet, the  _tmp-tmp_  of her heavy boots sounding quietly against the cobblestone road as she walks towards Fairy Tail's massive wooden doors. "Battle-loving people? Ajeel would definitely fit in." She murmurs to herself, putting both hands on the door and giving it a firm push.

The wooden doors swing inwards, and the noise merely intensifies. Lucy's eyes widen in amusement as she takes in the upturned tables, chairs and anything that can be lifted from the floor. The high walls are either scorched, frozen over, gouged or oddly enough, some parts seems to have twisted up and out of the walls, the wood bending and twisting, forming things reminiscent of grabbing hands, weapons.

The mages of Fairy Tail are having a go at it  _everywhere_ , in the middle, over the corner, even the bar isn't safe. It's a  _total warzone_.

It's hilarious, really.

Lucy hears yelling, slowly getting louder and louder, and she side steps easily, casting a curious glance at the white haired man that crashed into the ground. The man's arm is decidedly not human; it's far larger and disproportionate, despite the man's already considerable bulk, and it's covered in scales and tipped with wicked claws, good for ripping flesh apart.

Either magic, or a curious malformation.

Lucy moves away, carefully edging her way around the 'warzone's area, until she has reached the bar. She carefully leans over the countertop, peering at the white-haired woman kneeling behind the bar, peacefully cleaning fragile glassware. Lucy clears her throat, and the woman looks up, blinking in surprise.

For a moment, Lucy feels a  _stifling_  magical aura from the woman, but as quickly as it came, it's gone, like it wasn't there before. Is this woman hiding her magic? How curious.

"Oh, hello!" The white haired lady chirps, smiling sweetly up at Lucy, standing gracefully and dodging someone's boxers – wait what – as she regards Lucy. "How may I help you?"

Lucy nods at that, pointing a thumb over her shoulder and at the guild entrance. "I want to join Fairy Tail," She begins, getting straight to the point. No point in dallying in getting what she needs. "I'm a mage too. A Celestial Spirit Mage, actually."

And of course, she would make no mention of her  _other_  magic. At least, not yet. She doubts she'll be able to hide it indefinitely in her stay, but she can at least keep mum about it until absolutely needed. Who knows when she would need an ace in the hole?

The white-haired woman does a double take, eyes wide. "Celestial Magic?" She murmurs, reaching for something underneath the counter before putting whatever it was between them. It was a guild mar stamp, small and much less weighty than the one back in Alvarez. "That's quite the rare one."

"It is." Lucy agrees. She then nods at the stamp, noticing the woman pressing it into a magic inkpad. "I assumed one would need to be approved by the Master themselves in order to join."

"Not here," The woman smiles, gesturing for Lucy to show her which part the blonde would like to have her stamp. Lucy gives the woman her right hand. "What colour? Anyway, Fairy Tail isn't one for formalities, so practically anyone is allowed to join. So if they want to join, they just need speak to me. Besides," The woman pauses, pressing the stamp firmly against the back of Lucy's hand before lifting it, leaving behind a soft pink tailed fairy. "The master is out on a conference. Anyway, you're officially a Fairy Tail member now!"

Lucy brings her hand closer to her face, inspecting it. A little unremarkable, but then again, Lucy is biased. She would pick the Alvarez crest – her own stamped over her left collarbone and concealed – any time. "Thank you." Lucy smiles thinly over at the woman, her smile missed because the white-haired woman had taken her eyes off of Lucy to return the stamp to where she got it.

"I'm Mirajane Strauss, a barmaid here," The woman, dubbed Mirajane Strauss, introduces herself, smiling. She pulls out an empty file, no doubt an official record for Lucy. "What's your name?"

"Lucy." Lucy answers without hesitation. Mirajane looks up at her.

"Lucy…?"

"Just Lucy." The blonde replies with a shrug, trying not to think much about how her biological father tore her name from her, just a mere week ago. "No last name."

"Mm, juct Lucy then. Well, age? Nationality, city you were born in, parents?"

"In the same order, well, I'm Alkitashian, I'm… born in Vistarion. Mother is dead, father… I don't know about him." Lucy answers, tone casual and blasé as she slides into a free seat, noticing the guild brawl is winding down behind her. "Need anything else?"

Mirajane frowns, most likely because of her less than… light-hearted replies. Nonetheless, she continues. "Well, just a little more. Blood type, date of birth, any sickness, special conditions?"

"Easy enough," Lucy says, shrugging. "Type B, June 4, X67, and no known medical conditions."

Mirajane nods, writing down the information. She's about to say something but was interrupted when someone crashed into the bar with a yelp, Lucy almost jumping to her feet and summoning Gladius. The persona had completely sailed over the countertop, landing behind it instead.

Mirajane chuckles, shaking her head as she hastily looks away. "Gray, you lost your clothes again."

Gray, whoever it was, yelped once more, though this time it was of embarrassment and shock. Lucy has to raise an eyebrow at that, because who doesn't know they're losing their clothes? This Gray person, apparently.

A young man with dark blue hair peeks over the countertop, his ears and what's visible of his face absolutely red. His eyes – which is the same shade as his hair – scan the guild before landing on Lucy, who merely sits there with a questioning look on her face.

"Uh, hey, would you mind lending me some pants?" He asks, totally foregoing any sort of introduction in lieu of asking for clothes.

Lucy finds it hilarious.

Lucy grabs a cargo lacrima, dipping some of her magic into it and mentally viewing the numerous pants held in that particular lacrima. "What's your waistline?"

Gray blinks, like he didn't expect Lucy to actually lend him some clothes. "Uh, I'm 34."

Fortunately, with her figure, Lucy found something and she easily pulls it out of the lacrima, the item poofing into the material world with a bit of smoke. It lies folded up in Lucy's lap, and she hands it over to Gray, whose eyes are wide.

Yeah, definitely didn't expect Lucy to lend him clothes.

"You can keep that one." Lucy says, as Gray mutters a quick thanks and ducks behind the bar again to dress himself. Once he was done, he jumps over the countertop, hollering a challenge at the top of his lungs and restarting another brawl.

Lucy turns back to Mirajane, winking and grinning at the woman who has a hand clamped over her mouth, clearly trying not to laugh. But with the way Mirajane's shoulders are shaking, it was still too much. "I wonder how long until he notices it?" Lucy wonders with a giggle.

'It' being the big, neon pink "Juicy Booty" stitched across the back of the pants, practically screaming for the world to look at Gray's ass. Which, if Lucy is being objective, is  _indeed_ a great ass. That ass has Lucy's approval.

Not that she'd be tapping that; she wants another ass to tap.

Mirajane shakes her head in mock exasperation, chuckling. "I think you'll fit in just fine, Lucy." She remarks, sliding a simple juice towards Lucy.

The blonde accepts the drink, raising it briefly for a toast. "Suits me just fine." Lucy remarks, before gulping her drink back.

~~DIFR~~

Staying a few hours in the guild had proved…  _Informative_. It's almost startling, really, how  _open_  and  _loose-lipped_ these people are. Then again, maybe Lucy was just used to politics and etiquette and  _deceit_ , having born a Heartfilia and then raised mostly around court politics. She's gotten good in reading people, reacting to them and even maybe spinning them to her favour, to the point that being handed interesting information on a silver platter seemed alien to her.

For example, Fairy Tail is at the moment the uncontested top dog of the magical community in Fiore. There's a challenger, a guild that is  _nearly_  at the same level as Fairy Tail, which is Phantom Lord. A juicier tidbit of information came in the form of Fairy Tail's (and Phantom Lord's) Guild Masters are both  _Wizard Saints_. Or the strongest mages acknowledged by the Magic Council of Ishgar. Wizard Saint… Hm, God Serena  _was_  their strongest, right? Before he defected to Alvarez. Lucy wonders if the other Saints could overpower her 'Uncle' now. It'd be a sight to see, that's for sure.

Anyway, continuing with Fairy Tail, they have  _quite_  the mages. They have their so-called 'S-Class' mages – the guild's strongest – and there are currently three out of four active. Lucy was  _shocked_  when Mirajane revealed she was the fourth S-Class Mage. Emphasis on  _past tense_. She explained that she's no longer fighting, could no longer bear to do it, and she sealed most of her own power away, practically leaving her with  _barely anything_. Leaving her a little better than a mere civilian.

The other four are still well-known, according to Mirajane, and Lucy was all but salivating to get her hands on their information.

Laxus Dreyar, the Guild Master's very own grandson, is one of the more infamous one, known for his brutally powerful Lightning Magic. Mirajane also said, in nice and prettier words, that Laxus is a dick. With very dick-ish desires for the guild when he 'inherits' it.

In Lucy's opinion, he's a mild irritant.

Next one is Mystogan. Lucy almost spat out her drink when Mirajane told her no one really  _knows_  who Mystogan is, just that he's  _there_. But from what the Master had said, Mystogan is  _very_  shy about his face. Lucy has no comment on that one.

Now, the last one is Erza Scarlet. Famous for her near legendary use of Requip – a Spatial Magic that uses a pocket dimension to store equipment or whatever the mage requires – the woman had proven her might and was granted the epithet 'Titania'. Or 'fairy queen' in common tongue. Lucy is immediately wary of that; if someone bears the most blatant shout out to their guild as a title… This Erza Scarlet must really be  _something_.

Shame that they weren't there when Lucy had joined, she would've liked to observe them.

But at the very least, aside from the S-Class mages of Fairy Tail, learned about a lot of interesting information about the  _rest_  of the guild, specifically a few-eye catching members.

Gray Fullbuster – who only noticed the 'Juicy Booty' jeans when someone pointed it out three hours later – is an Ice Mage. Lucy had seen what he could do, and she found it cute. She's known ice  _colder_  than that.

Cana Alberona is a unique Holder-type mage, what with her foci coming in the form of cards. She uses it in combat as well as actual Tarot reading, meaning she has very mild abilities of precognition. She actually  _foresaw_  Lucy's arrival, although vaguely. Apparently her cards find Lucy to be too mysterious to understand.

Elfman Strauss – the man with the beast arm – is Mirajane's younger brother, and a Take-Over mage, although his abilities are severely limited. He also has a tendency to shout 'man', but then again, each mage certainly has their own quirks.

Team Shadow Gear, specifically their leader, Levy McGarden, is  _interesting_. Her magic is Solid Script, and she has  _massive_  knowledge when it comes to magical language, runes, and word-spells. She also knows a lot of bout  _languages_ , period.

The Thunder God Tribe is Laxus' personally team, apparently. Comprised of Freed Justine – Laxus' right hand man – Evergreen, and Bixlow. Each of his cronies are powerful, near S-Class, from what Mira is implying, and their magic is unique.

There's apparently another one of note, but he's away following the track of someone he's looking for. Mirajane had promised to Lucy she'd introduce her to him – because apparently he's 'something else' – so the blonde had agreed not to ask around and wait for the white-haired woman for introductions.

Right now, Lucy is in her rented flat, just a little ways from the guild actually, and in her opinion, it's the  _perfect_  place. Heating, ample space and privacy? It's a little more than Lucy could hope for.

She's dressed in a loose robe, secured at the waist by a thin cord and she's lying on the sofa, legs up on the table and crossed one over the other. A communications lacrima is in her hands, already activated and waiting to connect with its partner.

" _Lucy, calling again so soon?_ " Larcade Dragneel answers as soon as he picks up, amusement colouring his voice and making Lucy's insides warm.

So she has a fat fucking crush on Larcade. So what? At least Dimaria and Brandish weren't here to rib her about it. Emperor  _save her_  if Wall knew about this; he'd hijack all the speaker-lacrimas and announce Lucy's infatuation to the whole continent.

The Spriggan 12 – or at least most of them – are  _snakes_. She can't trust them.

Lucy smiles as she replies, poking at the thick cushion of the sofa. "Yes," She answers. "I've gotten into Fairy Tail."

" _Oh._ " Larcade sounds odd for a moment, probably thinking about  _him_ (the person they've warned Lucy about), before he recovers, voice placid and not a single clue of his surprise in his tone. " _Well, let's notify His Majesty, yes_?"

"Please, and thank you Larcade." Lucy singsongs sweetly, relishing the man's chuckle.

It took a while – the palace is massive, after all, and she probably called Larcade somewhere far from the throne room. Upon hearing the familiar creaking of wooden doors, Lucy sits up right and proper, the need to be dignified and put together born from practice in the presence of an Emperor.

Lucy can faintly hear Larcade talking, then a moment of silence, before a new voice comes through the lacrima. " _Lucy_?"

"Your Majesty," Lucy greets, voice warm. "Greetings."

" _Wonderful of you to call. How is the Eastern Continent treating you so far_?" The man asks, and Lucy couldn't help the groan of misery.

"It's  _cold_. It's  _not fun_." She whines, petulant like a child, and she can hear Larcade chortle somewhere near the communications lacrima.

" _You'll be fine in a month._ " His Majesty assures her, mildly amused. " _Now, Larcade said you've joined… Fairy Tail_ …?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." Lucy replies. "As to my premature… completion of my journey, I felt dissatisfied by it. Our coming of age journeys are supposed to help us grow, learn and see the world, yes? But I wasn't able to do that. Not one bit. So Lord Larcade had kindly pointed me to the Fioran Mage Guild known as 'Fairy Tail', rumoured to be the kingdom's strongest guild."

" _Hmm, you plan on staying, then_?"

"Only for a year, Your Majesty," Lucy clarifies, playing with the hem of her robe. "Nothing more, nothing less. In that time, I will play the part of a Fairy Tail mage, do my duties that is asked of me, and do my duties well. No delicate information shall pass from my lips, of course."

" _Mm,_ " A rustle of cloth, probably His Majesty leaning back against his throne. " _Well, you have my permission, then. Just call us every now and then, make us know you're still alive. Wall can connect your lacrima to his, so you may call him or Larcade, in the event Larcade isn't in the palace._ "

"Thank you, Your Majesty. You're most kind."

" _Mm, yes, yes. Blessings to you, little star._ " And with that, His Majesty hands the lacrima back to Larcade, who thanks the Emperor and taking his leave, from what Lucy could hear.

" _Well."_ Larcade hums. " _So_."

"Heh, nothing to say?"

" _Mm, a little_."

Lucy glances at the clock, notes the late time. "Then, we'll talk later, so you can say more." She says, smiling. "It's already a quarter to midnight here…"

" _Already_?" Larcade wonders, a little surprised. " _It's_ _ **noon**_ _here. Quite the time gap, it seems._ "

"Yeah, so please for the love of the Emperor, don't call me in the afternoons. Unless I call first." Lucy laughs, getting up and stretching with a groan. "I should sleep, and take my first mission tomorrow. I'm curious to how things happen over here."

" _I'll let you sleep, then_." Larcade murmurs, warmly. Lucy tries not to think about it too much. " _Goodnight, little star_."

Okay, she's particularly weak for this man. "Goodnight too, Larcade." She replies, trying to tamp down the grin wanting to split her face into two. "I'll talk to you soon _._ "

The communications lacrima deactivates, and Lucy is left alone in her room. It's fine, though. Because she feels good.

'A new beginning, huh…?' Lucy thinks to herself, walking over to the window and looking up at the night sky, filled with countless stars. "I'm fine with that."

~~DIFR~~

The next day, Lucy came in the guild, smoothly dodging the fight happening and went to ask Mira (as they woman asked to be called that) if it's okay for her to take on jobs. Mira confirms she allowed to take jobs already, so Lucy's excited to do one, because even though she's done  _countless_  of jobs, missions, errands, whatever you call it, in Alvarez, she's never done so by her lonesome, always accompanied/shadowed by one of the lower-ranking members, sometimes rarely even the members of the Spriggan 12 themselves.

Lucy feels a little rebellious, going off alone on jobs behind His Majesty's back. She feel like a bad girl. Which made her laugh; she's getting too carried away.

Once Mira had stared up her official records, Lucy is given the a-okay to go on jobs, and she immediately scampers over to the one near the stairs that lead to the second floor. She got a stern warning about not being allowed onto the second, not allowed to go near the stairs, even, so she avoids it dutifully. Lucy knows better than to actively disobey rules.

There's a large man in tribal attire – not local to Alkitashian tribes though – muttering himself as he surveys the board, the surface practically hidden beneath the  _layers_  of job postings. He notices Lucy approach, and he gives her a quick smile.

"You're new one, right?" He asks, and Lucy nods enthusiastically, practically swaying as she takes a look at the offers. "Ruuji?"

Lucy's lips twitched at the  _very_  wrong name, but she didn't correct him. How many people would say her name by mistake, Lucy wonders. "You seemed serious when you were looking over the stuff here." Okay so her attempt at pulling attention away from herself is awkward at best and downright disgusting at worst. Jacob would probably tan her hide for being so classless in subterfuge misdirection. "And yeah, I'm new, so I'm not entirely sure how this works."

"You want advice, then?" At Lucy's nod, the man continues. "It's easy enough; pick a job, review it, and if it's up to your liking, take it to Mira or Master for filing. Once approval is given, the job is locked to you and you alone, or with anyone who's in your group if you're partying up with others." He explains. "Sometimes there are the same jobs posted in multiple different guilds – bigger chances of grabbing attention to it – so in order not to mess it up, it has a Link magic the keys the mission to whoever accepted it first. And with that done, you're free to be deployed! Further parameters and requests can be discussed with the client, but usually everything they say is written on their flyers."

Lucy hums, nodding in understanding as she scans the request board again, understanding a little bit now. "So what if the client deliberately withheld information?"

The man shrugs. "If it's confirmed that the client had cheated, they're reported and arrested by the Magic Council. But," He pauses, raising a finger. "Sometimes you can spin it to your favour, compromise instead and come up with a win-win situation with everyone."

Ooh,  _nice_. Coercion. Maybe even intimidation or outright  _threats_. Jacob taught her a lot of those too. "Hmm," Lucy looks over the jobs again, an easy one for her first taste. She smacks a palm over a particular one, a book-burning mission. "I'm picking this then!"

The man nods over to Mira. "Better take that to Mira, then." He nods, before turning back to the board. "Good luck Ruuji."

"Thank you for the help, uh-"

"Nab."

"Thank you for the help Mr. Nab~" Lucy singsongs, skipping over to Mira with a wide smile. She probably looks ridiculous, wearing heavy clothes and only her head devoid of any covering and  _skipping_  like a child. "Miss Mira~!"

The white-haired woman smiles at her, eyes softening at the sight of a childish Lucy. "You're going off on a job, then?"

"Yes, and I picked this!" Lucy replies, holding the flyer up to Mira with both hands.

"Mm, infiltrate Duke Everlue's mansion and burn a specific book?" Mira takes it for a moment, grabbing something beneath the counter and pressing it to the bottom of the flyer. When she pulls it off there's an 'Accepted' stamped across the page. She hands it back to Lucy, who excitedly folds it up and hides it away in her cloak. "Good luck, Lucy."

"Heh." Lucy fingers the six golden Keys hidden away beneath her multiple layers of clothes. "It'll be no biggie."

The blonde knows that her confidence in herself, in her own power, would be interpreted as arrogance by others. It might be true, it might be false, but either way, Lucy doesn't really care for  _their_  opinions. Their baseless opinions. Lucy knows quite well the ownership of the Golden Keys - during the Great Age of the Celestial Mages – around so frequently that holding  _six_  at the same time would be considered  _legendary_.

Now though, with Celestial Mages being as diminished as they were, it's a little easier for Lucy to hold on to her Keys.

Three which she won from another powerful Celestial mage.

Which is why Lucy has the utmost confidence and assurance as she immediately headed to meet the client, by her lonesome on her first official mission.

~~DIFR~~

Hours later found Lucy in the home of her client, almost done with the discussion of the job. At the moment, Lucy is pacing the room with light steps, cloak swish around her. She's twirling a gold Key in her fingers with deft, mesmerizing movements. The client, one Kaby Melon, is watching her nervously.

"Mm, no need to be nervous, Lord Melon," Lucy says with a small smile, voice gentle and light. "I'm just curious, you see. After all, it's not every day you see someone willing to pay  _two million_  jewel. For a burning of a book."

"It is of  _utmost importance_ -"

"Yes, as you have said." Lucy replies smoothly, ceasing her pacing to turn to Kaby with some sort of odd grace, like she's flowing. "I'm just curious. Would you mind if I take a look at it before I destroy it?"

Kaby easily makes a 'go ahead' gesture, tiredness and frustration clear on his face. "Do what you want with it, I just want it reduced to ashes."

Lucy smiles and bows gracefully, dipping her head. She straightens and gives Kaby a sweet smile. "As the dear client wishes. Please excuse me, I must make preparations." And with that, Lucy dismisses herself, leaving the client's home.

From there Lucy makes her way to the hotel she's staying for the night, plans running in her head. She flicks the key in her hand, and Gemini – taking the form of Angel dressed in normal clothing and her hair hidden for blending purposes – appears beside her.

"You need our help, Milady?" They ask, following Lucy into the hotel and up to their room.

"Mhm, I'd probably rely on you a lot for my first mission," Lucy smiles, running a finger up and down the neck of Gemini's Key. "We're infiltrating someone's home. I've little experience, so I'll be needing a second opinion. From what I understood, Angel was the spymaster of her guild."

"She is," Gemini-Angel confirms, smiling broadly the moment 'infiltrating someone's home' passed through Lucy's lips. "Reconnaissance, then we take action, then?"

"Mhm. I also want to snoop around." Lucy smirks, taking the stairs two at a time. "After all, we'll be paying this 'duke' a visit. Who knows, we might find something worth of interest there."

"Ooh, we're in, we're in!" Gemini-Angel cheers, practically dancing up the steps while Lucy goes to open the door to her room. "You're just as fun as Angel's missions!"

Lucy shakes her head in amusement, ushering the disguised Spirit in before closing the door and locking it, slapping a privacy spell for good measure. Thank the Emperor for Jacob's insistence at Lucy learning basic privacy spells. "I don't like bloodshed, though, so no assassination missions. Sorry darlings."

Gemini-Angel shrugs, before turning to their real form in a puff of smoke. "No matter, we like you." Gemi says. Mini nods fervently. "Milady is very good to us, and her magic feels great!" Mini adds enthusiastically.

Lucy chuckles, tapping the twins on their foreheads, before she pulls a Silver Key free from her key-holder. She lifts it up. "Gate to the Cross, open!"

Crux appears in the middle of the room, the bearded silver cross floating a feet off the floor with his legs crossed. The cross stroked its beard with its thin arms, humming deeply. "Milady, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Lucy smiles. "We're on a mission, Lord Crux. My first ever outside of Alvarez. I don't want to mess up."

The cross nods. "Very well, how may I be of help?"

Lucy takes her cloak off, talking as she goes to hang it up. "I want the schematics of the Everlue Mansion, and while you're at, bring up a three-dimensional model of it. Account for hidden passages, off-record features and what else the place has." Lucy answers shortly, voice clipped and serious as she turns to regard both of her Spirits. "It's an infiltration mission, with the additional objectives of search and destroy as well as scouting. Secure entry and exit routes."

Crux nods, and he sags off to the side, still in mid-air but clearly asleep. Gemini giggles at the slumbering Spirit, hovering near him.

"Crux is always so funny." They giggle in unison.

"But he practically knows  _everything_ , save for anything Demon related, so he's awesome." Lucy replies, standing by the window and looking out over at, basking in the moonlight and letting her core absorb the natural magic. Her other magic is definitely unique, what with being a Caster-type magic that acts like it's a Holder-type.

Then again, it  _is_  a Lost Magic, so it's bound to have oddities.

"I'm concerned about the possible backlash this could bring to the client," Lucy murmurs, feeling the Twins take a seat at either of her shoulders, probably feeding off her magic because they found it 'yummier than Angel's magic'. "If the Duke is a powerful as he is, both financially, influentially and what else, the client would be in trouble, especially once the Duke realizes who's behind the job."

Gemi shrugs. "Collect enough blackmail, then. Then taunt him with it." Mini continues cheerfully. "People in power usually have a lot of skeletons in their closets."

Lucy tilts her head, sees that it makes sense. "Sound advice." She remarks. "I guess we can add 'chatting' to the list of to-do's."

"Angel is very good at interrogation." The twins say, almost enthusiastically. "But her guild mate, Cobra, is even better. We still have his form."

Lucy looks at her Spirits in intrigue. "Show me, then."

And before Lucy could react, the Twins are gone and there's an unknown assailant already on her, large, calloused hands grabbing her both arms and twisting them behind her back painfully, as well as kicking both her knees and sending her to the floor. Lucy hisses in pain when her attack digs a knee into the small of her back and the other into the meat of her thigh, effectively pinning her down and making it painful for her to move.

"Mm, I hear it," A dark, rough voice purrs. "Heh, a Celestial Mage like our Angel, eh? It would be a shame…" One hand glide up Lucy's back, fingertips feather light and teasing. Lucy feels revulsion flood her automatically. "If I…" The hand gliding up her back curls over her throat, and Lucy could feel  _claws_  dig into the soft skin. " _Destroy it_."

It was still for a moment, before Lucy lets out a shaky laughter, going slack and letting her forehead thump on the floor. Her 'attacker' gets off of her, rolling Lucy onto her back.

Gemini-Cobra grins down at Lucy playfully, and it looks so  _odd_  that Lucy can't help but guffaw. "We scared you, didn't we?" Gemini-Cobra asks, and Lucy doesn't know this Cobra person, but she feels that there's definitely wrong, this Gemini-Cobra is  _very_  out of character and Lucy just finds that really funny. "We didn't mean anything, by the way."

Lucy sits up and pat Gemini-Cobra's cheek, grinning as she did. "I know, I know. You really are convincing." Lucy leans back on her hands, regarding Gemini-Cobra's form and having to admit the man  _does_  look scary. Looks almost… serpentine, for some reason. "You want to talk to the Duke, then?"

Gemini-Cobra grins, feral and manic, and Lucy notes with fascination that this Cobra has actual  _fangs_. Honest to Emperor  _fangs_. It's cool.

"Cobra has a unique magic too." Gemini-Cobra informs Lucy. "He's a Poison Dragon Slayer, and he has Sound Magic too. Which is why he can hear  _souls_ , which makes lying to him useless."

Lucy gasps, clapping her hands in delight. "That's so  _useful_!"

Just then Crux had woken, and using starlight, he had formed a miniature of the Everlue Mansion, complete with  _everything_  Lucy asked for. Routes, passages, and even the suspicious  _underground_  section that seems to be a basement.

Lucy exchanges a look with Gemini-Cobra, and they share vicious grins.

Time to plan for work.

~~DIFR~~

It was almost  _obscenely_  easy for Lucy to slip in into the basement via the aqueduct, and from what Gemini-Cobra could tell her, all the souls are currently sleeping. Yay for sneaking in around ass o'clock in the morning.

Right now, Lucy is prowling the basement alone, Gemini sent away for the time being. In Lucy's grasp is her trusty Xiphos, because using the Labrys for a stealth mission is as stealthy as God Serena coming back to Vistarion.

Which is the  _farthest_  thing from being stealthy.

So Lucy prowled the basement in near darkness, trying to locate the laundry area where she could climb up the shaft to sneak into the Duke's room directly. Lucy knows she could climb up through the window, instead of sneaking around, but she's not going to run the risk of reinforcements being called it.

Her teachers had taught her the most fundamental skills that made her the mage she is now; August taught her magic, especially hers, is small in quantity but  _pure_ , making the small amount go a long way when used smartly. Jacob taught her economy of movement and making the mission as short as possible to ensure no sudden developments happen. Wall had taught her to go straight for their weaknesses.

Lucy would be a  _bad_  student if she fails their teachings.

Thankfully for Lucy, she finds the laundry shaft not long after, and she climbs into it, spider walking up until she reaches the Duke's room. She pushes open the shaft's panel, climbing out and dropping to the floor –  _thickly_  carpeted, nice – with nary a sound.

She summons Gemini silently, and the Twins immediately turn into Cobra as they look over the prone man sleeping noisily on his lavish bed. Lucy points two fingers at the sleeping Duke, before swiping her hand over her throat. When Gemini-Cobra nods with a feral grin, Lucy points to herself and points four fingers towards the direction of the library – which isn't far from their current location.

If all goes well, they'll be done in an hour. A clean in-and-out mission.

Lucy creeps down the halls, listening for any activity, but thankfully nothing happened. She goes over to the library doors, and sticks her finger into the middle, right over where the bolt is sealing it shut. "Venus Morning Star." Lucy whispers, and a super-compressed beam of pure light shot from her finger, slicing through the deadbolt like hot knife through butter.

Lucy slips in, shutting the door behind her and turns to the library. Normally, she'd be  _ecstatic_  at the sight of so many books, but since she's searching for something specific, and working with a time limit, this is just a pain. Good thing Crux managed to narrow the search area down, saving Lucy a massive amount of time.

So Lucy went over to the specific section, quietly climbing up the shelves – she's not trusting the ladders and their squeaky wheels, nope – and scanning for 'Daybreak'. Lucy finds it odd, though, that why an esteemed writer would write a novel with… with that failing excuse of a Duke as the 'celebrated' protagonist.

Maybe there's some trick to it, like a hidden jab on the Duke's person?

She should read the book before destroying it- aha!

Lucy smiles in victory, spotting Daybreak stuffed between Kama Sutra and The Art of Rope… Bondage… At any rate, Lucy found the book in short order, and so she climbs down the shelf, landing lightly on her feet. She pulls out her prepared Gale-Force Glasses and puts them on, ready to crack open the target book when one of the shelves slides open with rocks grating on rocks.

Out stepped two people, obviously under the employ of the Duke, as protection.

Lucy narrows her eyes, and summons a dark grey orb at her feet. "Lost Pluto." She murmurs, and the orb expands a little, revealing the portal gate. She drops the book into the portal, the two new comers squawking in alarm, and when the book is gone Lucy dismisses it with a clench of her hands.

"You bitch, what did you do?!" One of them snarls, furious.

Lucy just smiled, a not-so-nice one. "Take a wild guess." That pisses them off nice and easy, and they both charged at Lucy, magic at their fingertips.

Lucy summons her Xiphos with barely any fanfare, and she surges forward, catching the first attacker in the gut with her knee, sending him crashing to the other one. Lucy presses the attack on, kicking away the first and viciously slamming the butt of her sword against the second one's temple and rendering him unconscious. With that done Lucy stalks over to the other with measure steps, sweeping low and slicing at the back of the first one's knees, cutting the tendon and rendering him unable to walk.

The man – because apparently it's a man – groans pitifully, and before he could lift his head and get a close look on Lucy she grabs the back of his head and slams it down, knocking him out for good. She sighs, relieved that it wasn't much of a difficult fight, so not much of her time was taken.

Lucy drags the two to where they came from, closing the passage way – Lucy knew it was there but she  _didn't_  expect someone to come out of there, really – to hide them. She  _could_  kill them, but she's a guild mage. A  _legal_  one. She needs to behave like one, so no brutal-but-effective solutions. Tsk.

Lucy leaves the library quietly, finding Gemini already- "What's are you carrying?" Lucy whispers, having caught the flash of gold the unmistakeable shape of a  _Key_. " _What did you do_?"

Gemi shrugs. "We found Virgo's Key in the dirty hamper." Lucy twitches at that. Mini chooses to continue their report. "The guy has barely any magic, to be honest." Lucy twitches harder.

She sighs, running a hand down her face as the Twins deposited Virgo's Key –  _Virgo's Key_  – on her other waiting hand. "I normally don't take away other people's Spirits…"

The Twins just giggled 'piri-piri' before they dismissed themselves, barely offering any explanations. Lucy sighs. The Twins are quite the dears, but they're mischievous as all hell. Might as well go with the flow, right? Besides, Everlue's losing his key might take his mind off of Daybreak...

Well, there goes Lucy's clean cut plan.

Lucy adds Virgo's Key to her holder, keeping it secure, before going back to the library, taking out the two still-unconscious thugs. Lucy points her fingers at them and mutters. "Venus Morning Star." The thin, laser-like light pierce through their chests, right through the heart and cauterizing flesh so no blood leaked out. It was a quick, easy death. No suffering, no fanfare.

Lucy carefully drags the bodies near the Duke's room, positioning them as if they were going to defend the Duke but were killed before they could do anything.

It's a hack job, but oh well. With fear imprinted deep in the Duke, and the assumed threat that the actual target was the Golden Key… Hopefully nothing will leak. The doctored 'crime scene' will serve as something to further hide the real intention.

Hopefully.

Well, whatever. Daybreak recovered,  _Virgo's Key_  obtained, the Duke silenced… It was time for Lucy to disappear.

~~DIFR~~

Well… That was quite unexpected.

Apparently Daybreak isn'y Daybreak but rather  _Dear Kaby_ ; the book isn't about a gross telling of the 'Revered Duke Everlue' or however it goes but rather it was a father's last letter to his beloved son. Lucy tried not to react to that. With Daybreak's true form revealed, and the book now safely in the client's keeping, Lucy had succeeded her mission.

More or less.

She didn't receive the two million jewels, because Kaby had come clean and admitted he was just going to borrow the payment money, and Lucy feels bad that she turned the offer down. She compromised that Kaby Melon owes her a favour, and she can cash in on it at any time she wants. The man agreed, practically worshipping Lucy. Lucy went on her way feeling good, having helped out a man in need.

And of course, getting Virgo's Key.

So Lucy didn't get jewels, but that wasn fine. She wasn't pressed for money at the moment, and she can steadily go on jobs and rack up savings if she does things smartly.

That's exactly why Lucy is back in front of the job board, two days later after finishing the Daybreak mission, contemplating her choice in jobs.

"Huh," A rough voice sounds above Lucy, and she peers up, way up to see a blonde man leaning over the railing of the second floor and literally looking down at her. "Well, well, Gramps letting in little fucking princesses in now?"

Wow, rude. Mira had warned her about Laxus'…  _sparkling_  personality but Lucy didn't know it was this bad.

Lucy blinks up at Laxus. "Lord Laxus." Lucy says, voice carefully flat. "The leader of the Thunder God Tribe."

Laxus gives her a particularly nasty grin, eyes raking over Lucy's form. Lucy can see the irritation when Lucy's shape can't be determined through the cloak, only that Lucy has quite an ample chest. Lucy wonders how to gouge his eyes out; there's only one person who can look like Lucy that way and it's  _not. Laxus._

"Little princess did her homework, I see." He drawls. He cocks his head, licking his teeth as he regards Lucy in a different way, less lecherous, more assessing. "You… have pretty weak magic."

"I know."

"Then why are you here, weakling?" He asks, his curious tone a mockery. "Fairy Tail is the home of the  _strongest_  mages. You've no place here."

Someone beside Lucy made a move to attack, but Lucy raises a hand, not once taking her eyes off of Laxus. Lucy smiles sweetly up at him, and by the tick of his brow she knows the he saw the underlying  _poison_  of her smile, how it was carefully crafted for naysayers like him.

"Well, aren't you being unfair, Lord Laxus?" Lucy tells him with a cheerful voice, a complete opposite to her raging thoughts of  _hurting_  the blonde man. "I'm but three days old in this guild; and I've no one to teach me Celestial Spirit Magic! Surely, a little leeway can be given to this little…  _princess_."

Laxus' sneer is impressive, and Lucy notices the man's teeth are oddly shaped. Not deformed but rather… sharp. A little  _too_  sharp.

"The little princess has quite the mouth. Quite the balls too. Very well." Laxus straightens, glaring down at Lucy. "Tomorrow, 9 AM on the dot, meet us here. Let's see how well you do when you hunt with the big boys and big girls."

And with a dramatic sweep of his fur coat, he's gone.

Lucy looks at the board with a sigh, ignoring the flabbergasted stares directed her way. Well, so much for keeping quiet and  _not_  draw attention to herself. Then again, that Laxus person had dragged her into the spotlight, putting her in a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' situation. Sure, she could've ignored him, but based on his demeanour towards her and what Lucy hears from the other mages… he would've taken it as a slight on his person. He wouldn't like it, the Thunder God Tribe wouldn't like it, and Lucy would be a target. Which is a very bad thing.

So she takes the least physically endangering course; by standing up to him.

It pissed him off, sure, but at least she wasn't smote off the face of Earthland. Small mercies.

"Okay, which job is ni- ACK!"

Lucy chokes when her collar is tugged harshly, practically dragging her away from the job board. She's unceremoniously dumped onto a seat, and Lucy massages her throat as she glares at whoever dragged. Which happened to be- "Lord Gray," Lucy hisses, ignoring the way Gray's eyes narrowed at the overly formal address. "Forgive my language, but what the fuck?"

"Okay, the 'Juicy Booty' incident notwithstanding, I owe it to you for literally saving my ass a few days back." He begins, voice icy. Like his magic. He fixes Lucy with a glare, and Lucy straightens in her seat, glaring back. Gray falters at that, but to his credit her carries on, leaning forward to whisper harshly and poke at the table like it offended him personally. "So, as someone who wants to look out for you the same way you did with me, I need to ask  _what the hell were you thinking_? Agreeing to go on a mission with the Thunder God Tribe!"

Lucy sighs, putting a hand to her forehead. "It was either to offend Lord Laxus by dismissing him, or this."

Gray huffs in frustration. "They're not the run of the mill mages-"

"So am I-"

"He said your magic is  _weak_."

Here Lucy can't help but smile smugly. "Correction; it's  _tiny_." She says. At Gray's confused look she elaborates. "My magical core, my reserves, are  _tiny_ , and therefore I exude a weak magical aura. All of you automatically translate it as weakness without even knowing the  _exact_ properties of magical core."

Gray opens his mouth to make a rebuttal, then he pauses, brows furrowing. On the next table over, Lucy can see the blue-haired girl unabashedly eavesdropping. "That's…" He hesitates. "I've never really thought about that."

Lucy rolls her eyes. Is this the best of Ishgarian mages? So sad. "And it's sad. Anyway, let me illustrate how  _exactly_  my magical core works." Lucy says, lifting both hands. She shakes her right hand. "This here, is my magic. It takes the form a small but solid golden ball. And the other one," She shakes her left hand. "Is a fan made of feathers. Which one is heavier?"

"The golden ball." Gray answers immediately.

Lucy nods, satisfied. "Correct." She lowers both hands, weaving her fingers together and setting them atop the table. "My magic is  _exactly_  like that little golden ball. It's small, it's nonthreatening when it's just there being pretty.  _But_. It's heavy. Even a small part of it, a mere shaving of it, is  _valuable_."

Gray's eyes widen, leaning back and regarding Lucy with wide eyes. Lucy wonder when did he lose his shirt. "Are you saying… your core is  _pure_?" He whispers, his words almost lost over the din of the guild.

Lucy shrugs. "Yes." She replies blithely, like it explains everything, which… actually explains everything.

Gray regards Lucy for a moment, before shaking his head with a disbelieving laugh. "Okay, okay, I guess it's my bad for underestimating you." He stands up, still not noticing his lack of shirt – Lucy already has one prepared to give to him – and he grins down at Lucy. "Instead of 'don't be an idiot' I guess I should change it to 'don't die out there'."

Lucy smiles thinly, batting her eyelashes innocently. "I make no promises."

Gray barks a laugh. "See you later Blondie."

"Thank you for your concern, Shirtless."

Gray pauses and looks down on himself. "Dammit."

Lucy wordlessly hands him the shirt, and though Gray gave her a questioning look, he didn't say anything, only giving her a nod of thanks. He opens the shirt-

"Really, 'I can be your Sugar Baby'?"

Lucy shrugs. "You make it easy."

Gray just curses.


	2. demons, oh my!

As someone who is more familiar with massive galleons and airships to traverse the continent of Alkitashia, Lucy had spent the entire train ride from Magnolia Town to Gerbera Valley practically plastered to the window, oohing and aahing over the vast forests, plains, and mountains they pass.

"You sure like your landscapes, girl," Evergreen drawls, a perfect brow cocked up in amusement as Lucy gasped when they just pass a rice field. "You act like you've never been on a train."

"Because I haven't," Lucy replies absently, resisting the urge to just stick her head out of the window. That'd be stupid and Lucy prides herself on being  _not_  stupid.. "We don't have trains in where I live."

Freed shifts, blinking at Lucy with mild curiosity. "No?"

Lucy shakes her head, reluctantly pulling away from the window to sit back down. She's on the same bench as Evergreen, while the males are on the other bench. Laxus seems to be deep in sleep, while Freed and Bixlow are awake.

It's been almost five hours since they've left for Lucy's 'initiation', and Lucy – through extensive training in reading people and picking up on subtle cues – had found out that the Thunder God Tribe are definitely more than their 'tough assholes' personas. It's still prevalent of course – not to mention Lucy doesn't really  _know_  them well – but they're  _definitely_  complex characters.

The trio that made up Laxus' underlings, for example.

Their loyalty if first and foremost to  _Laxus_ , if not  _only_  for Laxus. Their adoration and faithfulness is both blatant and subtle – such a nice juxtaposition, in Lucy's opinion – and Laxus is  _aware_  of it. Treats it preciously, if Lucy's interpreting the signs correctly.

The way Laxus hangs back to watch them? Classic 'distant protector' habits.

Lucy, due to her status as the Ward of Alvarez, with the  _Emperor Spriggan_  as her Guardian, is mostly hidden away in the palace, kept close to the Spriggan 12 and the Emperor himself. And because of that, Lucy is limited in who she spends time with, even if she's not complaining. Her socializing skills are good, thankfully, but she can say she missed out on a lot of friendships, were she allowed to roam outside the palace, roam the streets of Vistarion and play with other kids her age.

At least she has one year to meet new people, learn about them and satisfy her curiosities and whims.

Lucy pulls herself back to the present, turning to Freed. "We have airships and sea vessels as transport, but aside from those," Lucy shrugs. "No trains."

"Where do you live, Larcy?" And Bixlow joins Lucy's private club of 'People Who Got My Name Wrong'. Lucy is infinitely entertained by it, but she's still waiting for the funniest name she'll hear.

Lucy grins, well, smirks more like. "Across the sea." Was all she said.

Freed considers her for a moment, lips pursed and eyes narrowed. "Alkitashia." He guesses, confident in it.

Well, considering she's been adamant in wearing multiple layers, loudly whining about the cold, and mentioned living outside Ishgar, it was easy to figure out. Alkitashia is the only continent with desert area exceeding 50% of total land area. Giltena is a little more like Ishgar, but with much more extreme summers and winters.

Which leaves Alkitashia.

Lucy just nods, unbothered. "Yep." No need to tell them about the specifics, like how His Majesty had taken her, at the behest of her own mother. How she left her father.

It wasn't their business, anyway.

"You don't have an accent," Evergreen observes, snapping open her fan and fluttering it before his face daintily. "You sound very much a local."

"Multilingual." Lucy says, which isn't a lie. "My teacher taught me multiple Alkitashian languages, then the most common Ishgarian dialect. Studied for about... four years, more or less." She's  _not_  going to tell them she can read Zerefian. Ishgarians, from what His Majesty told her, don't like anything demonic.

Which is understandable; just looking at Bloodman, despite living under the same roof as the Etherious for years, can still give Lucy the heebie jeebies.

"I heard Alkitashia is very different from Ishgar," Freed remarks, blatantly piqued. "Especially the kingdom of Alvarez. Is the magic there different?"

_You Ishgarians have_ _ **no**_ _idea_. Lucy smiles, shaking her head. "Not really," Just a half-truth, but it would do. "There are some magic that are completely exclusive to Alkitashian territories, but it's just like Ishgar-exclusive magic. There's nothing too… different. After all," Lucy smiles at her temporary team. "Magic is magic… no?"

"No matter how absolutely  _riveting_  this conversation is," Laxus grumbles, apparently not as asleep as Lucy thought. "You know how this mission will go down, Princess?"

Apparently Laxus seems insistent on calling Lucy that. Not that it's entirely incorrect. "Seeing as none of you deigned to brief or even shove the flyer up my face…" Lucy smiles sweetly at the blonde man. "Nope."

Laxus growls at her cheek, but smartly doesn't rise to it. He turns to Freed, dipping his head. Freed nods back and turns to Lucy, beginning to explain the mission.

"I'm sure you're aware of S-Class missions?" Lucy eyes widen, but she nods. Freed continues, satisfied he doesn't need to explain that one. "Well, this mission is classified as such, therefore expect high levels of danger, in fact, treat this as a life or death mission, what with your novice status. It's a two-fold mission, meaning there are two objectives. With me so far?"

"Yes," Lucy replies, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. She's not particularly bothered that it's a high-levelled mission – she can and had survived worse situations – but this means it would  _definitely_  force her to show some of her hand. "Please continue."

Freed brings a hand up to the air, and to Lucy's fascination, the tip of his index finger lights up in a deep purple colour, and he wrote words in the air, using  _magic_. So this must be one of Freed's magic… a form of Script Magic. How fascinating.

Freed makes a simple illustration of a forest, and in the northern sector a temple. Freed points to the forest, addressing Lucy.

"First part of the mission is a simple elimination task; a massive troop of Mountain Vulcans had made base there, with a confirmed headcount of 30 individuals."

Lucy catches the peculiar wording. "You said 'confirmed'," She says, leaning back on her seat with narrowed eyes. "You're speaking as if you're expecting more."

Freed's lips twitch, but other than that, he didn't do anything else. "Correct," He agrees. "On top of that, there's rumoured to be a Wyvern prowling the very same area. It's a regular variant, but then again, it's a distant relative of dragons. Highly dangerous."

Lucy nods. "I'm guessing, my 'test' would be the elimination task." Lucy points at the temple illustration. "What about the temple?"

"Laxus will be the one to deal with that, by himself." Freed answers promptly. "Aside from him, no one is really fit to deal with whatever… lurks in the temple, killing the villagers."

"Ah, I think I see it." Lucy hums. "We, or maybe just me, would clear the way for Lord Laxus, saving his magic."

Laxus snorts. "Don't be cocky Princess. I can deal with a bunch of monkeys and an overgrown lizard  _and_  kill the demon while I'm at it." He says, like he's stating a universally acknowledged fact. "I just need to weed out weaklings like you."

Lucy wonders what will happen if this cocky man would meet God Serena. An equally cocky man – if not  _more_  – but has substance to back up his often ridiculous claims. Does Laxus have what it takes to earn him his right to brag?

Well, no matter. Lucy would probably see for herself soon enough.

Lucy looks at Evergreen beside. "What will you be doing, Lady Evergreen?"

"Watch you, for the most part. Freed and Bixlow would be doing the same as well." The brunette replies. "Unless we really need to, we won't be helping you with the elimination task."

Lucy merely nods, unbothered. "Okay."

"Wait, no complaints? Screaming?" Bixlow asks, his odd little totems echoing 'screams, screams!' with their creepy child-like voices. "Usually the women in our guild would hate stuff like those."

Lucy scoffs, shaking her head. "Then those very same women would die in just a day in Alkitashian wilds." Lucy clicks her tongue in irritation.

Laxus opens one eye to level her a look. "You talk big." He says, but Lucy sees what he's really asking.

"Let's just say… I like to live." Lucy tilts her head to the side, picking her words carefully. "With all my limbs intact."

"… They kick you out onto the wilds?"

"No, they're kind enough to drop me off with well wishes."

The other four occupants of the cabin stare at her. It was Bixlow who broke the silence. "How are you alive, then?" He asks. His totems echoed 'alive, alive' and Lucy low-key wants to smack them out of the air and silence them. "I feel practically no magic from you."

Lucy just shrugs, giving them a smug, if not shit-eating, grin. "That's for me to know," She drawls. "And for you to forever wonder about."

Yeah, like she'll tell them how she actually just goes in the forest with the others, hunting game for sport or the odd private feasts here and there. Lucy had never really set foot in any Alkitashian forest alone for more than a few hours, but Lucy  _does_  know she's good enough at evading and escape, avoiding unnecessary fight to save on her magic.

The overhead speakers chime in, announcing their arrival at Gerbera Valley. Laxus was the first to leave, almost  _rushing_  in his haste to leave the train, which Lucy found odd. She didn't comment on it though, it wasn't her business, so she quietly follows her temporary team out of the train and onto the station.

"You lot go ahead and secure a hotel," Laxus instructs, leading the party out of the station and into the town. "Three rooms; I get one by myself, and the four of your pair up for each room. I'll pay, so go get something decent. I'll meet with the client, and we'll debrief tonight. Tomorrow, we'll start nice and early."

So the Thunder God Tribe and Lucy split off from Laxus, off to prepare for their mission tomorrow.

Lucy's excited.

~~DIFR~~

The dawn came bright and early, and with it, Lucy is up and eager, changing out of her usually thick and impractical clothes into her usual combat suit. Her cloak and fancy clothes underneath are folded up and left back at the hotel – to be retrieved once they're done with the job – and on Lucy's person is a skin tight suit, coloured blue-black with pale yellow accents running down her form and accentuating her curves. It covers her from neck all the way down to her toes, even down to her fingertips, and the back portion is open to reveal the tanned expanse of her back.

As well as the nasty scar running from her right hip that goes up all the way to her shoulder.

A souvenir from Dimaria's first sword lesson.

Bixlow lets out a wolf whistle, and Lucy tries not to show any signs of reacting to it. She could feel his gaze rake down her form, and even though it's obviously playful, she  _despises_  it.

No one can look at her like that except for one person.

"You know, back in my home, men who look at women like that get their eyes gouged out." Not true, but they don't need to know that, do they? "Then we get to fill it with flesh eating caterpillars, and from your body would grow a nice, healthy population of Corpse Butterflies." Alkitashia practices  _none_  of those. But they do have Corpse Butterflies. Lucy has a few in her own garden.

Bixlow, smartly, looks away so fast Lucy thought she heard his neck pop. Lucy looks over at Evergreen, who looked a little, well,  _green_ , and winks. The brunette blinks, a little confused, before it clicks and she hastily hides her snicker behind that fan of hers and a discreet cough. Freed and Laxus merely blinks at her.

"Well, anyway," Laxus steps up, regarding the towering forest coolly. "You ready to go, Princess?"

Lucy merely summons her Xiphos into her grip, facing the forest with quiet determination and razor sharp focus. Her Keys jangled at her hip, secured and ready for use.

Taking that as an affirmative, Laxus nods to himself. He quickly settles into a battle stance, crouching low and bringing his hands together. Lucy watches in rapt interest as Laxus' form literally  _sparked_ , little bolt of yellow electricity dancing and arcing over his body. It gathers in his hands, a muted but chaotic roar of compressed lightning.

Ah. A 'knock on the door'.

Lucy allows herself a little grin, widening her stance and bracing the flat of her blade against her forearm as she holds in in reverse, ready to leap into whatever action she needs to.

With a ferocious roar, Laxus sends the ball of lightning into the air over the forest, and it explodes with a loud  _ **BOOM!**_ And if  _nothing_  reacts to that, they might be stupid. Or arrogant, depending on their place in the food chain.

As it was, when the roll of thunder faded, numerous roars rise from the depths of the trees, defiant and  _pretty much angry_ , and from underneath her feet, she can feel the ground tremble. She had ample experience with Brandish's and Ajeel's magic that she a little decent in feeling the earth for any changes, and with how consistent and  _deep_  the vibrations are it can only mean one thing.

A horde is coming.

"Well," Laxus looms over Lucy, grinning nastily. "Good luck,  _Princess_."

In response, Lucy kicks off and bolts into the trees.

Unfamiliar with Ishgarian fauna, most especially subspecies, Lucy opted to seek them out and study them on the fly, observe and analyse and formulate a plan of efficient elimination. She takes to the trees, jumping up several branches just to reach a decent height. With that done, Lucy leaps from tree to tree, having to adjust to the sheer size of these oak-like trees. Alkitashia have  _normal_  sized trees, so these mammoth trees are definitely new.

Lucy makes her way to the sounds of howl and deep monkey chattering, and it didn't take her too long to seek out her targets.

And what a target they were.

These monkeys were more like bulls in their shape and musculature, but they're  _still_  monkeys, with their simian faces and developed hands. They lope on the ground, and none of the present troop are in the trees. With their size – probably 6-10 meters fully standing and weighing more or less… 50 tons? – Lucy doubts even these massive trees could support one of the Mountain Vulcans.

Also, their chests are large and almost comically bigger than the rest of their body, so that means only one thing; very strong lungs, and  _very strong_  upper body strength. Fitting for living in mountains, as the air can get really thin the higher up one is. And with their large bulk, Lucy can bet that these Mountain Vulcans live in caves rather trees.

Well, good thing Lucy is small in agile; go low and go strong.

The sound of fluttering reached Lucy's ears and she whips around, ready to fire off a Venus Morning Star. She finds Evergreen instead, with Bixlow and Freed bring up the rear and they're… flying. Well, Evergreen and Freed are, with their wings of light and dark respectively, but Bixlow is… surfing the air, using the lined-up totems as a board.

Lucy just shakes her head, sparing them no words.

She has to work, after all.

So Lucy drops to the ground, and activates her second magic's speed-boosting spell; Flyby. Lucy's body glows gold for a brief moment, eyes flashing from brown to yellow for a split second, and she's gone before she hits the ground, blurring over to the alarmed Vulcans and trailing starlight in her wake.

She slices at feet and knees and ankles with her Xiphos, hitting as many as she could before she leaps into the air, suspended in the air for but a moment before gravity takes her back down.

One Vulcan reaches out for her with a meaty fist, and she turns sharply, kick off the hand and heading straight for another ape. Lucy twirls just before she collides with teeth and monkey breath, lashing out with her sword to graze a furred cheek. The Vulcan roars and flails, and Lucy uses the ensuing commotion to move back underfoot, causing an unholy hell by striking vulnerable extremities.

Lucy leaps back just as a hand smacks down where she just was, and she grimaces when her chest burns with breathlessness and the sheer effort she did to move so much – especially with Flyby activated – in such a short time.

As a relatively new spell, and a booster at that, Lucy's body still hasn't acclimated to the stress Flyby places. Muscles are often torn – mostly happens with her leg muscles – joints and bones aching and swollen, and heart pumping too hard and lungs positively  _burning_. With training and conditioning, it would ease with time, but for now, Lucy resigns herself to using it for only a total of 3 seconds per day.

Which she used all up, in doing her initial attack and recent evasion.

She glares up at the offending apes, pissed that none of them died – she had aimed for arteries and kill zones, but these Mountain Vulcans have hides as thick as Rhinophants,  _the hell_  – and they're simply making much more noise, most definitely calling the rest of their troop to this location.

Lucy leaps back, doing a quick head count of her targets – a total of 8, a starter meal – and she makes a huffing sound. "Xiphos won't do here." She murmurs. She tosses her trusty weapon into the air – disappearing in a shower of stardust – and she grabs one of her Golden Keys. She swipes it in the air in front of her, and a large bull-like humanoid appears in a flash of light. Taurus bellows out a challenge, horns wicked sharp and axe even sharper.

Lucy proceeds to press the key to her sternum, and with a blinding burst of light, Lucy's combat suit is replaced by her Star Dress: Taurus Form.

A cowboy hat rests atop Lucy's head, her short golden locks tucked neatly. A choker with a cowbell hanging from the middle graces her neck, and her chest is covered by black and white string bra with tassels hanging from the bottom. Her asymmetrical jeans – the right pant leg cut short at the top of her thighs – are also tucked into her brown boots.

Star Dress is a rather nifty gift from Aquarius; it would be a damn shame if she didn't use it.

"Taurus," Lucy starts, but her Spirit is already moving, clapping a hand over his axe before pulling his hands away, a second axe revealing itself. Taurus hands the second one to Lucy, who doesn't bat an eye at the axe a little larger than her. She gives it a twirl, a feral grin taking over her lips as she shoulders it with ridiculous ease. "Got my six?"

"As always, Moooolady!" Taurus bellows.

And with a war cry of her own, Lucy jumps back into battle, jumping high and bringing her axe down on a Vulcan and splitting its head open.

This time, boosted by Taurus Dress' strengthening capabilities, Lucy made quick, if brutal, work of the Vulcans. Necks, hearts and heads weren't safe from Lucy's axe, same with Taurus – although being non-human, he usually outright  _cleaves_  the Vulcans in two – and before long the Vulcan troop is dwindling, slowly but surely, even if more and more poured from the depths of the forest.

It wasn't long before Lucy is on the ground, leaning against her borrowed axe and panting something fierce, drenched with sweat and  _almost_  steaming with how overheated she is. Taurus is merely a little winded, standing guard over Lucy as she tries to collect herself.

This area of the forest has become a  _massacre site_ , littered with Vulcan bodies. Lucy killed 19 of them while Taurus killed the rest, which is a little more than 30. Maybe closer to 40, really. There's  _definitely_  more than 30 individuals in this troop and Lucy can feel her body screaming, pain lancing down her arms and legs and her chest throbbing how much she used magic.

Tsk, she needs more training.

"Y-you," Lucy looks up in surprise, honestly forgetting she had audience, and she feels satisfaction and pride fill her at the Thunder God Tribe's dumbfounded expression. Evergreen swallows as she flutters down to stand on the ground, Freed and Bixlow following suit. "You just…"

Lucy heaves herself to her feet, Taurus assisting her with worry and Lucy thanks her Spirit with a warm smile, before turning back to her audience. She gives them a thumbs up, grinning cheekily. "Aren't I cool?"

Before they could answer though, a shriek, not a roar, rips though the air, shrill and hair-raising and setting off every danger alarms in Lucy's head. The forest falls deathly silent after that, and Lucy knows that an apex predator had entered the area.

The wyvern.

"Shit, shit, shit,  _fuck_ - _"_ August would probably douse her mouth with bleach if he hears her swearing, but good thing August isn't here. And in Lucy's defence, it's warranted at the moment. "It's the fucking  _wyvern_ -"

The other three look at her sharply, varying degrees of alarm on their faces. "Are you sure?" Freed asks sharply and Lucy growls at him, irritated and disbelieving.

_Ugh,_  these pathetic  _Ishgarians_.

"Yes, and it's really-" Lucy stops, eyes wide, and she swipes Taurus' key, forcibly slamming his Gate close as she leaps away.

Just in time for the wyvern to barrel through the trees, jaws snapping, spit dripping from massive jaws. It snarls when it realizes it missed Lucy, and it shakes its wings out, lifting its head high to scream. The wyvern is a massive, old thing, bigger and heavier than the Mountain Vulcans. Its hide is a very dark shade of green, scarred and rough from countless battles. The webbing of its wings are ripped at the edges, but it's still usable, and the claws on the wyvern's wings and feet could easily rip a man apart.

In short, this one is trouble.

Lucy grits her teeth, warily watching the wyvern from her perch high up in the trees. The Thunder God Tribe had hidden themselves as well, not wanting to risk the wyvern's wrath. "Lady Evergreen!" Lucy hisses, calling the attention of the sole female Tribe member. "Does Lord Laxus' test need me to defeat the wyvern?" She asks urgently, because if Laxus wanted Lucy to kill the wyvern, she's In danger.

Her magic is reaching critically low levels. At best she can call either Aries or Cancer, but that's it. She can also activate one last Kosmos Polemistís spell-

Wait. Of course! Supermoon, plus Cancer and the Cancer Form of the Star Dress!

Before Evergreen could answer Lucy's question, Lucy has taken off, Cancer's Key flashing. The Taurus Dress is replaced, a form-fitting, plated body suit with spine-like thing wrapping around Lucy's chest like a parody of ribs. Her arms and legs are plated in the armour-like segments as well, all segments red like a lobster. In her hands, the axe is replaced by separated scissor blades, one in each hand like swords. If Taurus Dress afforded Lucy superhuman strength few could match, Cancer Dress afforded Lucy incredible cutting power.

She just hopes it'll be enough to defeat the wyvern.

Cancer himself forms beside her, and upon seeing the wyvern he gives Lucy a judgmental look. Lucy sheepishly laughs and turns her attention to the wyvern.

Lucy readies her blades, and jumps back into the fight as the wyvern roars a challenge.

~~DIFR~~

In the end, Lucy wasn't able to kill the wyvern.

Which  _sucks_  because she was  _so_  close to landing the killing blow, she just needed a  _second_ -

But nope, Laxus had come from Emperor knows where and punches a literal hole through the wyvern with a lightning wrapped fist. Killing her prey and being so fucking  _smug_  about it.

One of these days, Lucy will have her revenge.

So here Lucy is, back in Magnolia, back in Fairy Tail's guildhall, a day after her mission with the Thunder God Tribe. And she's still sulking. Not that she cares if she's sulking or not, considering it's a well-deserved sulking. Laxus did steal a kill from her.

Lucy growls as she aggressively stabs her steak with her knife, imagining it to be Laxus' shit for face-

"I can't believe it, my child. Natsu, Gray and Erza encountering  _Lullaby_." Lucy doesn't pause, she's trained too well and thoroughly by an  _assassin_  to do something as pause when eavesdropping, but she does feel her hand twitch for a moment, her only giveaway. " _Lullaby_. A Demon of Zeref's creation…!"

Lucy, thankfully, didn't drop her knife; it would've given her eavesdropping away. It's already evening, and there are only a few people in the guild, just a handful, really.

And one of the remaining people is the Guild Master himself.

Lucy can hear Mira sigh, an unexpectedly morose sound coming from the normally cheerful woman. "I can't believe it either, Master." She replies, quiet. Lucy's sitting at the end of the bar, and the Guild Master and Mira is on the opposite side. Lucy has to concentrate to hear them properly; this information is  _priceless_. "I'm just glad they got away with their lives."

The old Master sighs deeply, head bowing in thought. "But for a Demon of Zeref to surface again… I thought the Magic Council had destroyed all of Zeref's Demons?"

_Hah, that's what they thought_.

Lucy takes a peek from the corner of her eyes as she chews the steak in her mouth, sees the woman shrug, a disturbed look on her face. "I don't think it's that easy." Mira says. "But at least it's gone now, what with those three destroying it. There's no remains, right Master?"

"None." The Master confirms. "The other guild masters and I checked. Thoroughly." He pauses, then looks  _right at Lucy._

Lucy drags her eyes away, pretending not to be eavesdropping despite being already caught, and this makes the Guild Master laugh in amusement. Lucy can feel her face and ears burn from mortification, horrified at herself for being caught eavesdropping. The Master beckons at Lucy to come close, and after a moment's hesitation, she does, bringing her half-finished plate with her as she moves to the seat beside the Guild Master'. Mira is smiling at her, amused, and Lucy looks away, blushing.

"Ah, Lucy," The Guild Master smiles at her warmly, like a grandfather fondly regarding his grandchild. "You've heard?"

Of course it was a rhetorical question, but Lucy nods anyway, out of respect more than anything else. Abandoning all pretence of ignorance, Lucy turns to Mira and the Guild Master, a furrow between her brows as she speaks. "A Demon of Zeref was mentioned," She begins, discreetly picking her words. "Lullaby, was it?"

"Correct." The Master sighs, a burdened and tired sound. "Death Song. Thanatos. Whatever named it was called, whatever it was originally named, Lullaby was found by a Dark Guild. Almost used, in fact."

"You mentioned Lord Gray and two other had destroyed it. What happened to them?" Lucy needs to know what happened to Lullaby. Needs it  _direly_. After all, it's a relic of His Majesty, the Emperor Spriggan. Lucy does not know how His Majesty would react, but if she could recover the Demon… "And what happened to Lullaby? Was it really destroyed?"

The Guild Master looks at Lucy with an unreadably expression, but he continues. "Gray and the others are fine. A little shaken, but other than that, they're doing quite well, really. You've met them?"

Lucy shakes her head, picking at the lining of her cloak. "Not all of them, just Lord Gray."

The Master makes a humming noise in the back of his throat, nodding to himself. "I see. At any rate, for the full story with Lullaby… You have to ask Gray yourself, I'm afraid. Even I don't know what went down." He strokes his beard. "Haven't gotten a debriefing yet, actually."

Lucy turns to Mira, knowing the woman was the one people report to at times, but to Lucy's disappointment, the white haired woman shakes her head no, smiling apologetically. "I don't know much, just that the guild masters were almost killed." Mira tilts her to the side, considering for a moment, before beaming at Lucy. "But due to their efforts, the so-called 'Grim Reaper' Erigor was arrested, their guild finally disbanded, and the affected towns safe."

The Master suddenly scoffs, shaking his head. "But what isn't safe is the  _guild_  funds!" He snarls, mock-furious. "Honestly, reducing the Clover Town train station to rubble-"

"Erza said it was the doing of Erigor, really-"

"A part of the rails connecting the valleys are  _destroyed_ -"

"Natsu had to take drastic actions against Erigor again-"

"GAH!" The Master throws his hands up, surprisingly Lucy and making her jerk back in her seat, staring at the small man wide-eyed. "Why do my children leave me with so much collateral damage and headaches the size of Fiore Peaks?!"

Mira laughs, a pretty sound. "If we didn't, we wouldn't be Fairy Tail, no?"

The Master grumbles incoherently, but Lucy tunes them out at this point, thinking hard and deep.

Asking them outright yielded no concrete answers, nothing of  _importance_. But at the very least, it gave her leads to follow, find out more about the Lullaby situation. But first, she needs to report to His Majesty, tell him about his findings and ask for guidance, ask for his words of wisdom.

Lucy quickly finishes her dinner, and she stands up, looking at Mira and the Guild Master. "Thank you, Master Makarov, Mira, but I must go." She says, setting down some jewels on the counter to pay for her meals and a tip. "Good night."

The two bids her farewell, and Lucy quietly leaves the guild, deep in thought as she makes her way to her home. Her pace is fast, boots clacking against the cobblestone ground and her cloak swishing around her legs as she moves hastily.

She needs to report to His Majesty, and  _immediately_.

Lucky for Lucy that her flat is nearby, just a ten minute walk with a brisk pace, and she makes her way in, activating the privacy spells as she closes the door behind her. She strips herself of her cloak, hanging it up and then kicking her heels off, unable to care about doing it properly nor slowly.

She goes to her room, activating the communications lacrima as she takes a seat. She connects it to Wall instead of Larcade – despite wanting to talk to the blonde man – because she needs to speak to the Emperor.  _Fast_.

" _Lucy, hi~!_ " Ah, she caught 'cheerful' Wall right now. At least it wasn't 'pissy' Wall. That one was worse than Brandish during her period and was denied her cravings.

"Wall, I need to speak to His Majesty," Lucy whispers urgently, injecting as much seriousness and warning in her tone. Wall can switch between uncountable personalities, making him quite a nuisance to talk to depending on which personality one is talking to, but Lucy is thankful that all of those aspects of the Machias is consistent in one thing. Service to the Emperor Spriggan. "It's important."

Wall was quiet for a moment, before his now monotone voice sounds out. " _Switching personality module; personality code: SERIOUS, is activated. Please wait a moment."_  Lucy does wait for a moment, and when Wall speaks once more, there's a lack of hyper energy, a lack of warmness. It's all business, and as stated by the personality code, serious. " _You found something, Lady Lucy_?"

Lucy breathes shakily, nodding despite Wall not being able to see her. She opens her mouth and replies.

"Demons."

~~DIFR~~

Lucy was by herself in one of the guild's many nooks, drinking her juice pensively as she thinks.

Last night, she had talked to His Majesty, reported what she found out, and his reaction to her discovery, was something she didn't expect.

He was disappointed that Lullaby still existed.

Now, Lucy knows the Emperor enough that while he  _is_  detached – emotionally and physically – he does take care of those that is  _his_. The Spriggan 12. Lucy herself. The entirety of Alvarez. All of them were  _Zeref's_ , tied to them both by their vows to the Emperor Spriggan and their own adoration and worship of the Black Mage.

Zeref's Demons, naturally, are Zeref's.

But His Majesty hadn't cared that Lullaby wasn't recovered and returned, in fact he was disappointed in its continued existence. He only cheered up when Lucy reported its destruction, even going as far as saying he's  _glad_  for Lullaby's end. Glad for the end of one of  _his_  Demons. Which is odd.

_Lucy stares at the lacrima in her hand, lips parted in surprise and her eyes wide. Did she hear His Majesty right? Was she not hallucinating, or under an illusion spell?_

" _Your Majesty, forgive your humble servant, but…" Lucy tries not to gape. "You said you're glad…?"_

" _Yes, little star, I am glad," A smile can be obviously heard from the Emperor Spriggan's voice. And wasn't that_ _ **strange**_ _when he speaks of the destruction of what is_ _ **his**_ _. "I had planned to have Lullaby destroyed, really, but…it escaped my attention. Now, I'm relieved that someone else did that for me."_

" _B-but…" Lucy flounders, pacing the entire length of her living room and grasping at her short hair in distress. "Lullaby was your-"_

" _Yes, Lullaby is mine," The Emperor Spriggan interrupts, voice firm and a hint of steel showing through his mellow voice. "And mine to do with as I please. Lullaby has long ago failed my expectations, and therefore no longer needed. His destruction is a boon to the humans, in fact."_

_Lucy hesitates, conflicted._

_She knows just who His Majesty is. The_ _**real** _ _him. She's acutely aware of the meaning of Zeref, what he stands for, what he's_ _**done** _ _. She'd be stupid not to, and Lucy prides herself in being anything but stupid. She knows that while the Emperor looks and acts and talks and behaves like them, he is anything but human. By his name, even_ _**Lady Irene** _ _is more human that His Majesty is, and the woman is a_ _**dragon** _ _. His Majesty may look like Lucy's age, but in reality he's half a millennia old, if not more._

_Lucy knows that His Majesty isn't anything_ _**like** _ _her, never was, never will be, but it's still hard to grasp, hard to wrap her head around._

_As if sensing her thoughts –His Majesty is good at that – he speaks again, voice gentle and soft and oh so inviting. "Don't worry, little star. You, nor anyone in Alvarez is like that to me." He says, voice firm in his claim. "It's only my failed Demons that deserve their destruction."_

" _Aren't… aren't they alive?" Lucy asks, but she knows she's given up, her voice weak and her argument even weaker._

_The Emperor Spriggan merely scoffs, a rare show of his less genial side. "To call them 'alive' is a blasphemy and a spit on the living." He hisses, and Lucy, despite all the way in Ishgar, shivers in fear, cold dread dripping down her spine and terror locking her limbs. "… No, they aren't alive, little star. They aren't and they never will be. I was wrong to create them, even if they_ _**did** _ _bring me to my success."_

_Lucy chews on her lip. "So…?"_

" _So I have a job for you, little star. It's not mandatory, more of a request, really." His Majesty says, voice once more light, like that past few moments didn't happen. "Any Demons of mine you come across_ … _"_

Lucy opens her eyes, pulling herself out of her memories and staring at her hands with a frown. "Kill them." She murmurs to herself, turning her hands over to inspect her old tattoo, a non-magical one that simply said 'little star' in Alkitashian common.

"Wow, so early in the morning and you're already contemplating murder? Roll back the killer vibes there blondie."

Lucy almost jumps a foot into the air in her surprise, and she  _almost_  summoned her Xiphos and lashed out, but the sight of dark blue hair and a fairy stamped onto a bare chest had stayed her hand and cleared her instinct addled thoughts. She looks up and finds Gray Fullbuster smirking down at her in his full, half-naked glory. She sighs, a little frazzled, and she motions for the Ice Make mage to take a seat.

"Lord Gray, please," She fixes him a look, lips twisted in displeasure. "Next time, try not to creep up on me."

He raises his hands in surrender, looking amused, as if Lucy's warnings aren't that serious. "Okay, okay, I hear you so please quit it with the death glare." Lucy looks away, sighing tiredly. "Although it was your fault that you were spacing out so much you didn't hear me."

Lucy contemplates the benefits of summoning her Xiphos and stabbing it on the table between Gray's fingers, but she merely huffs and levels the other mage a look before speaking. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence, Lord Gray?"

Gray lifts a finger, leaning on the table with his elbow. "One, please drop the formality, we're all friends here." That's… incredible naïve of him, but also flattering. "Two, Mira said you wanted to talk to me? About Lullaby."

Ah, right. Lucy takes out a notepad and her pen as she nods, putting them in front of her as she starts to explain. "So, I heard that Lullaby is a Demon of Zeref, and I just  _had_  to know about it," Not a complete lie, not a complete truth. "My… my guardian, you see, wants these things to be gone. As I'm the only one in the position to go after them – Zeref's Demons, I mean – I need every scrap of information I'll need, every tidbit, every  _lead_. So," Lucy looks at Gray in the eyes, pleased at his alarmed and ' _I wasn't prepared for this_ ' look.  _Excellent_ ; if Lucy did this right, he'll be putty in her hands. "Talk. Tell me  _everything_."

Jacob had taught her something  _incredible_  useful, especially in regards to friendly 'interrogation' aka fishing for information. In the classic 'spill or suffer' scenario, it's relief or a boon that the torturer dangles before the victim of their ministrations, barely out of reach. The promise of everything to  _stop_.

In what Lucy needs to do, it's the opposite she needs to do. She needs to  _entice_  her 'victim' into talk, talking,  _talking_ , until they don't know they're spilling precious information.

The first step in order to make people open up to you is to give them  _attention_ ; look at them while they're talking, give the proper vocal or physical cues at the right time. Ask for clarification, or the classic 'anything else' is a clear invitation for the speaker to continue. An open and easy body language.

Lucy got this part down, quite easily in fact, and Jacob begrudgingly credited it to her being female, and a fine specimen at that. Does it bother her? A little, but when she needs information, and needs it  _bad_ … Well, Lucy knows she can be quite shameless, given the proper reason.

So before long, Gray is dancing to her tune, talking and  _talking_ , unaware that he's probably telling Lucy more than she needs (like how he strips because his magic saturates his very bones, his very soul, and he needs to be cold in order to be comfortable, or how his magic was taught to him by Ur, who was apparently killed by Deliora – a name to remember later). Gray recounts everything, from when Erza Scarlet had enlisted his and 'flame-brain' to help her – Lucy notes to ask who flame-brain is later – and how they tracked 'Grim Reaper' Erigor, and thus came across his  _guild_ , where they fought and Erigor had escaped with Lullaby.

"You fought a whole guild of  _Dark Mages_?" Lucy gasps, only half faking it. These Ishgarians might not be comparable to the mages Lucy knew, but she notes to herself that to underestimate them might prove fatal.

Gray shrugs. "Between me, Erza and Natsu, they didn't last long." He says, and something niggled in the back of Lucy's mind. Natsu, Natsu, Natsu… she's heard that name before but  _where_ …? "Besides, they were made cannon fodder by their leader, that bastard Erigor. He escaped while we were occupied, and delayed us further by surrounding the station with a wall of wind." Gray adds.

"How'd you escape?" Lucy writes down Gray's words, her pen practically flying across the page. "I'm assuming it wasn't possible to just… walk through."

Here, Gray did this little smirk that was a little  _too_  fond to be cocky. Which is… weird. Lucy makes a mental note of that, because so far, Gray hadn't pegged her to be that type of person to do such a thing freely. "It's actually funny. Ash-breath set it on fire."

Lucy drops her pen and her jaw. "What."

"Yup."

"He really…?"

"Kerosene-piss really did."

"But wind and fire…"

Gray just shrugs, though that little odd smirk is still on his face. "As I've said, Natsu only has flame for brains. He sets the wind wall on fire, then just swallows it all down like the glutton that he is." Gray tilts his head, humming. "He was practically spitting embers for several hours straight, with the amount of fire he consumed."

Lucy shakes her head, disbelieving.

Scratch Ishgarians being weak; they're just plain fucking  _weird_.

"I must look up this Lord Natsu person," Lucy laughs, still reeling because  _who sets fire to a whirlwind_. That person is either crazy stupid or crazy strong. Most likely both, now that she thinks about it. "He seems… vibrant."

And the Understatement of the Year Award goes to… Lucy!

Gray snorts, shaking his head. "Yeah, I wouldn't exactly call him that. But if you wanna, well, play with fire, go right ahead." Gray nods to the people of Fairy Tail. "Just around for 'Natsu Dragneel' and you'll have what you're looking for.

Lucy nods, scribbling the name in the corner of her notepad. "Okay just ask for Natsu… Drag…" Wait. Wait a moment. "… neel…"

Natsu Dragneel.

Natsu  _Dragneel_.

E.N.D.

Etherious  _Natsu Dragneel_.

Zeref's greatest Demon and his crowning glory. His  _little brother_. Larcade's most hated person.  _Etherious Natsu Dragneel_.

Is in Fairy Tail.

Oh.

Oh no.

Lucy drops her pen for real this time, hearing it clatter to the floor. She could hear Gray asking her, but his voice was like underwater; unclear, echo-y, and too indistinct to pick out words.

Not when thoughts of 'oh fuck' filled Lucy's mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> positive response I got last chapter was very encouraging. I hope you continue to read,subscribe and review; it gives me life!
> 
> If you have questions, clarifications, please shoot me a PMif you feel like its a spoiler, and if you don't mind being spoiled, haha. Other wise,leave it in the reviews, and I will try ti give you an answer!
> 
> R&R please!


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